Story By: John Feng, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report

Video Credit: AsiaWire

A deadly fire which claimed the lives of five university students and left three dozen people injured in a blaze may have been started by a charging electric scooter.

The fire was reported at 6:50am local time on 5th May at a five-storey building opposite Lijiang College of Guangxi Normal University.

The building in the city of Guiling, which is in China’s southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is occupied by tenants from the second to fifth floors – most of whom were students at the university.

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The Guilin fire service said the fire took roughly an hour to bring under control, with some 73 residents evacuated or saved from the tenement building.

However, five victims were declared dead at the scene, with at least 38 injured taken to hospital.

Six of the victims are reportedly still in a critical but stable condition.

Lijiang College has confirmed in a statement that all five deceased were students enrolled at the university, as were at least 24 of those reported injured.

Guilin police say four people have been arrested in connection with the fire, which is thought to have been sparked by a charging electric bike in the ground-floor stairwell.

The identity of the suspects has yet to be revealed as further investigations continue.